Beautifully Knight (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #5)

Ambulances and Accidents

-LOGAN-

My heart thundered in my chest as I fought the tears that threatened to fall at the sight of my girlfriend lying unconscious on a stretcher. Her pretty amber eyes were hidden behind her shuttered lids and a giant oxygen mask obscured her face.

"Hails," I intertwined my fingers with hers, but she didn't move. Her pale hand just hung limp as red and blue lights reflected off her hot pink nails.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the vehicle so we can leave."

A woman's voice called my attention away from Hailey and upwards to land on the pair of stern eyes glaring at me.

"I've asked you twice already," the paramedic adjusted the IV bag in her hand and pressed her lips together.

I stood a little straighter and cleared my throat whilst moving my thumb in circles over Hailey's palm, "Your partner told me I can ride along."

"Up front in the passenger seat, hon," The paramedic gave a curt smile and jutted her thumb towards the blocked off area in the front of the ambulance. "Not back here."

I didn't even bother to follow her finger, "I'm not leaving her."

"Sir—"

"I'm not leaving her," I repeated a little louder. "I'm staying right here."

A guttural rumble of thunder and a crash of lightning echoed through the ambulance as if God was backing me up and the paramedic huffed as she gathered up the IV tubing.

"Look, sir, a storm is coming and my partner and I need to focus on the patient. You'll be a lot safer buckled in the passenger seat. We can't focus on two people right now and letting you roam loosely back here while we're working isn't feasible. We can't be liable for your safety—"

"You won't be," I shook my head. "I'll stay out of the way and let you do what you need to do, but I'm not leaving her. She doesn't have anybody else but me and I promised her I'm always going to stay with her. So that's what I'm doing—staying."

The back doors screeching open interrupted her reply and I watched as her partner climbed inside from the rain.

"Bad out there?" she asked.

"I've seen worse, it'll blow over I'm sure," he drifted his focus in my direction and held out a red Northeastern Huskies jacket, "Your friend said to give you this and tell you she's calling your mom."

"Thank you."

"No problem," he closed the doors to the ambulance and his partner looked like she wanted to say something but decided against it.

They both made a few adjustments before there was a lurch and we began to move.

As the paramedics worked around me, I kept my eyes on Hailey's motionless body and tried to figure out how we'd gotten here. Our morning had started so perfectly and then out of nowhere everything had gone downhill faster than I could keep up. Heat exhaustion, family fights, and ambulance rides weren't anywhere close to how I'd planned for us to spend our first work-free weekend together. I'd imagined fun times—strawberry picking and hanging out at the batting cages—not all the other crap that seemed intent on dragging us down.

Why couldn't the rest of the world be like it was when it was just Hailey and me safe and cuddled up in our apartment? There were no fears or problems or flaws there. Everything was nice and cozy and pristine—except maybe the hole on our bedroom wall that Hailey kept asking me to spackle, but I didn't even consider that to be a flaw. Not really.

The hole had come from my ancient internet-bought headboard—after surviving several moves between tiny apartments during my early twenties, it was no longer strong enough to withstand anything more than sleeping. Thus, in the middle of lovemaking on our first night at the apartment together, the hinges had broken off and sent the board catapulting into the wall and Hailey and I crashing down to the floor. We'd laughed uncontrollably as we stared at the ironically heart-shaped dent and I still smiled every time I saw it.